Aiutha
by Arrghus
Summary: This is the story of two great heroes, featuring neither. This is a tale of the beautiful and the monstrous, of power and of sacrifice, of love and of trickery. This is the myth of the greatest monster who ever lived, and of the girl who defeated her. It's also a bit of a mystery, see if you can figure it out :)


Once, there was a great monster. Her legs were those of a lion, her back that of a dragon, and her tail was a five-headed snake. She had three heads, one that of a hydra, fangs dripping with venom, one that of a hippopotamus, strong enough to shatter steel and tear down mountains, and one that of a deer, its eyes filled with such impossible majesty that those who met them were struck down and died at the spot. Many brave heroes heard of the monster, and set out to destroy her, but one by one, they were destroyed, their swords shattering upon her sorcerous scales and their bodies rent asunder by her threefold jaws.

Then, one day, a simple girl came before her, soft of step and with hair like kelp. "Strike me down if you wish, beast, but know then you killed an innocent, one who did not come for war."

There came a great rumble from above, and the beast lowered her three heads to speak with the girl. "I hear you speak of innocence, but I smell divinity on you, and the immortal are rarely innocent, little goddess. Make your claim, but know that if I am displeased I will devour you, and immortality will be no comfort in my belly." So speaking, the monster passed over the girl who was a goddess, blocking the exit to her lair and encasing it in darkness.

Undaunted by the shade, the girl spread her arms and made her claim. "You have killed many in your days, and you have rent them asunder and devoured them. But I ask you, were these struggles not unfair? They, though heroes, were no monsters, but little things, with no scales to protect and no venom to destroy. Can you truly claim to be the greatest of monsters, when your tools do all your work? Could you have felled Altiron without your claws? Could you have slain Guin without your fivefold lashing tail? Could you have defeated Elai, child of Carl, without your terrible gaze? Was it you that won you these battles, or was it merely your form?"

The beast thought this over for five days, lying all the while in front of the entrance to the cave, allowing the girl neither light nor freedom. Five times she rose to pounce upon the girl and devour her, and when she stopped the fifth time with the girl's head already in her fangs, she realized something.

"So what is it you propose then, little goddess."

The girl smiled, for she knew that she had won. "I shall take your form from you. I shall take your tail and I shall take your scales and your venom and your strength and I shall take your terrible gaze from you. And in return, I shall give you a new form, one small of stature and soft of skin. I shall take your strength and replace it with weakness. I shall take your scales and replace them with fur. I shall take your majesty and replace it with meek beauty. You shall have no weapons save a pretty face. You shall have no protections save the lightness of feet. I shall take every one of your advantages and replace them with handicaps, and you shall be the most harmless of creatures. Only then shall the field be even."

The beast thought this over. It was true that much of her power came from her form, but her spirit, too, was mighty and indomitable, and that, no goddess could take from her.

So she accepted the bargain, and the lair was at once filled with light, for the monster was no more, and the thing that was once a monster was by no means large enough to fill up the entrance. And in a flash of light and the scent of salty winds, the goddess was gone.

The thing that was once a monster examined her form. It was true what the goddess had said, her new form was meek and soft. But the monster had fought many things, and knew well that to be meek and soft, too, was a power, and that her spirit was undiminished by the change. And so she set out to rule the world, not with claws, but with love.


End file.
